Motorheads on sleds! (pics included)

[Steve Foss]

I've posted this on the FM photo sharing board, but I reckon a lot of you strokeheads may not go there, so I dumped these in here, too.

I meandered down to the Shagawa River this afternoon to see if any waterfowl had made their way north, and turned the corner only to see tons of vehicles parked along the road and no ducks at all. It was sleds paddling in the river, enjoying an Ely tradition of waterskipping.

Honestly? This was a bit more exciting than duck photography. My muckboots and goretex Shadowgrass camo bibs and I were actually crouching in the water to get the low angle I wanted for some of these shots.

Motorheads, enjoy!! Your winter days are numbered.

All with the Canon 20D, Canon 100-400L IS at various focal lengths, iso400, various shutter speeds at f8, handheld in Al servo (continual focus) mode

Two can play at this game

Man's world? Not!

Checking out the competition

Better than an afternoon watching basketball on TV? Yep yep yep

Eat my water!

[CrappiesNeyes]

Great pics, we used to do this year round on a lake near Kimball until some of the residents on the lake complained and called the DNR. The DNR asked us for our watercraft licences and that pretty much put an end to it. Was great fun while it lasted!

[Steve Foss]

Hmm, interesting, that snowmobiles skipping across short sections of open water might require that kind of license. Sounds more like the DNR was being "responsive" to complaints than really considering the law. I mean, it's not like the skippers are using their sleds to troll for walleyes or pull waterskiers on open water or anything.

Of course, my sympathies would be to some degree with the homeowners there. Sleds whining at all hours of the day and night right next door is bad enough in winter (we live within a block of a major snowmobile trail through Ely) but, even though I drive a sled in winter to haul my ice fishing gear around and have some understanding of the fun of snowmobiling, to have that 24-hour whine going on all year around would be worse.

But I reckon challenging that DNR position in court might yield a worthwhile result.

[Macgyver55]

A few years back I believe they actually passed a law making it illegal to cross open water on a snowmobile in Minnesota.

Why did the snowmobile cross the water?

To get to the other side... why else!